Pizza Uno's Deep Pan Chicago Style Pizza Recipe

In 1943, when Ike Sewell opened a restaurant at the corner of Ohio Street and Wabash Avenue in Chicago, Americans ate pizza primarily as a snack. Ike figured that if you combined some of Italy's old, authentic recipes with impressive quantities of the finest meats, fresh cheeses, ripe vegetables and flavorful spices, pizza would become a hearty meal. It was the start of an American tradition - the Chicago Deep Dish Pizza. Ike's Original Deep Dish Pizza has been imitated many times, but never quite duplicated.

In the mid-1990s, Uno® broadened its concept to encompass favorite dishes that diners expected from a high quality, full-service restaurant. To expand the menu and meet increasing customer expectations, Uno completed a multi-million dollar kitchen upgrade in its restaurants, installing sauté stations, grills and fryers, and invested heavily in the training of its front and back of the house staff.

The new Uno Chicago Grill locations are larger and feature a "Chicago warehouse" look that creates an inviting dining environment. These new prototype restaurants continue to generate above-average sales volumes.

Pizza Uno's Deep Pan Chicago Style Pizza

Ingredients:

CRUST

• 1 cup warm tap water -- (110 to 115 degrees)
• 1 package active dry yeast
• 3 1/2 cups flour
• 1/2 cup coarse-ground cornmeal
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 cup oil
  

FILLING

• 1 pound mozzarella -- sliced
• 1 pound sausage -- removed from the casing and crumbled
• 1 can whole tomatoes - (28 oz) -- drained, and coarsely crushed
• 2 garlic cloves -- minced
• 3 teaspoons dried oregano (or 5 fresh basil leaves, shredded)
• 4 tablespoons freshly-grated Parmesan cheese
  

Cooking Directions:
Crust:

1. Pour the warm water into a large mixing bowl and dissolve the yeast with a fork.
2. Add 1 cup of flour, all of the cornmeal, salt, and vegetable oil.
3. Mix well with a spoon.
4. Continue stirring in the rest of the flour 1/2 cup at a time, until the dough comes away from the sides of the bowl. Flour your hands and the work surface and kneed the ball of dough until it is no longer sticky.
5. Let the dough rise in an oiled bowl, sealed with plastic wrap, for 45 to 60 minutes in a warm place, until it is doubled in bulk. Punch it down and kneed it briefly.
6. Press it into an oiled 15-inch deep dish pizza pan, until it comes 2 inches up the sides and is even on the bottom of the pan.
7. Let the dough rise 15 to 20 minutes before filling.
8. Preheat the oven to 500 degrees.
9. While the dough is rising, prepare the filling.
10. Cook the crumbled sausage until it is no longer pink, drain it of its excess fat.
11. Drain and chop the tomatoes.
12. When the dough has finished its second rising, lay the cheese over the dough shell. Then distribute the sausage and garlic over the cheese.
13. Top with the tomatoes. Sprinkle on the seasonings and parmesan cheese.
14. Bake for 15 minutes at 500 degrees. Then lower the temperature to 400 degrees and bake for 25 to 35 minutes longer.
15. Lift up a section of the crust from time to time with a spatula to check on its color. The crust will be golden brown when done.
16. Serve immediately.
    

This recipe yields 6 servings.